矮 (ǎi): (of a person) short, (of a wall etc) low, (of rank) inferior (to), lower (than)

矮 (ǎi) is a Chinese character meaning “(of a person) short.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 矢 (semantic) and 委 (phonetic). It ranks #1997 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 矮 dart. Its radical form 矢 (arrow) appears in many related characters such as 短 (duǎn, short), 矢 (shǐ, arrow), 矣 (yǐ, classical final particle, similar to modern 了).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. (of a person) short
  2. (of a wall etc) low
  3. (of rank) inferior (to)
  4. lower (than)

Etymology & Origin

矮

pictophoneticdart

Decomposition: ⿰矢委 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing 矮 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
矮子nounǎi zishort person
矮小adjectiveǎi xiǎoshort and small
矮胖adjectiveǎi pàngshort and stout
白矮星nounbái ǎi xīngwhite dwarf
矮个儿nounǎi gè ra person of short stature
低矮adjectivedī ǎishort
矮子里拔将军phraseǎi zi li bá jiāng jūnlit. choose a general from among the dwarfs
矮黑人nounǎi hēi rénNegrito
矮行星nounǎi xíng xīngdwarf planet
矮脚白花蛇利草nounǎi jiǎo bái huā shé lì cǎosee 白花蛇舌草
矮人nounǎi réndwarf
黑矮星nounhēi ǎi xīngblack dwarf star
红矮星nounhóng ǎi xīngred dwarf star
高矮noungāo ǎiheight (i.e. whether short or tall)
矮杆品种ǎi gǎn pǐn zhǒngshort-stalked variety
38
Total compounds
79
As first character
5
As last character
16
As middle character

矮 appears in 38 compound words: 79 as the first character, 5 as the last, and 16 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 矮 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

棕zōng
0.5371,086 co-occurrences
胖pàng
0.520552 co-occurrences
星xīng
0.4577,004 co-occurrences
材cái
0.4521,450 co-occurrences
低dī
0.4153,231 co-occurrences
瘦shòu
0.404116 co-occurrences
灌guàn
0.401272 co-occurrences
白bái
0.3971,886 co-occurrences
脊jǐ
0.394214 co-occurrences
小xiǎo
0.3894,930 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

高矮胖瘦gāo'ǎipàngshòuHSK 3+

one's physique; stature

phrase
矮小精悍ǎi xiǎo jīng hànHSK 4+

short but intrepid (idiom)

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习矮字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí ǎi zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the stroke order for the character "矮" requires repeated practice to achieve neat handwriting.

爱范儿Aug 2026

港口、高架桥、低矮住宅区和摩天楼彼此相连,远处依然保留着清晰的建筑轮廓。

gǎng kǒu , gāo jià qiáo , dī ǎi zhù zhái qū hé mó tiān lóu bǐ cǐ xiāng lián , yuǎn chǔ yī rán bǎo liú zhe qīng xī de jiàn zhù lún kuò .

Ports, overpasses, low-rise residential areas, and skyscrapers are all interconnected, and the clear outlines of the buildings remain visible in the distance.

爱范儿Aug 2026

在广袤的异世界,曾经流传着这样一个笑话: 为什么出名的矮人学者比人类和精灵族学者多?

zài guǎng 袤 de yì shì jiè , céng jīng liú chuán zhe zhè yàng yī gè xiào huà : wéi shén má chū míng de ǎi rén xué zhě bǐ rén lèi hé jīng líng zú xué zhě duō ?

In a vast, fantastical world, there was once a joke that went like this: Why are there more famous dwarf scholars than human or elven scholars?

少数派Aug 2026

在矮轴键盘上谈“手感”似乎有些奇怪。

zài ǎi zhóu jiàn pán shàng tán shǒu gǎn sì hū yǒu xiē qí guài .

It seems a bit odd to talk about "key feel" on a low-profile keyboard.

WorldjournalApr 2026

“阳光女子合唱团”遭中国矮化争议 金马影帝张震这样说

yáng guāng nǚ zǐ gě chàng tuán zāo zhōng guó ǎi huà zhēng yì jīn mǎ yǐng dì zhāng zhèn zhè yàng shuō

"Sunshine Girls Choir" Faces Controversy Over Alleged Demeaning Treatment by China; Golden Horse Award-Winning Actor Chang Chen Weighs In

中時新聞網Mar 2026

继南韩、丹麦 喀麦隆也矮化台湾 我缺席WTO反制网友嘘爆

jì nán hán , dān mài 喀 mài lóng yě ǎi huà tái wān wǒ quē xí W T O fǎn zhì wǎng yǒu 嘘 bào

Following South Korea and Denmark, Cameroon has also downplayed Taiwan’s status; my absence from the WTO meeting sparked a backlash from netizens

Tatoeba

矮人们是伟大的铁匠。

ǎirénmen shì wěidà de tiějiang.

The dwarves are great smiths.

Tatoeba

我哥哥虽然矮小可是很强壮。

Wǒ gēge suīrán ǎixiǎo kěshì hěn qiángzhuàng.

My brother is small but strong.

Tatoeba

我知道汤姆比我矮很多。

Wǒ zhīdào Tāngmǔ bǐ wǒ ǎi hěn duō.

I know Tom is a lot shorter than I am.

Tatoeba

我把他叫做「矮子」,他就气得不得了。

Wǒ bǎ tā jiàozuò 「 ǎizi 」, tā jiù qì de bù déliǎo.

He got mad at me for calling him Shorty.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 矢 (dart) component

矢 Radical Family — Characters sharing the arrow radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced ǎi

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 矮 (ǎi) mean in Chinese?
矮 (ǎi) primarily means "(of a person) short." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1997 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 矮 and 第?
矮 (ǎi) and 第 (dì) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 矮 (low) vs 第 (high).
How many strokes does 矮 have?
矮 is written with 13 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 矮?
The radical associated with 矮 is 矢 (arrow). This radical appears in many characters related to arrow.
What are the components of 矮?
矮 is composed of: 矢 (semantic), 委 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰矢委 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 矮?
Common words with 矮 include: 矮子 (ǎi zi, "short person"); 矮小 (ǎi xiǎo, "short and small"); 矮胖 (ǎi pàng, "short and stout"); 白矮星 (bái ǎi xīng, "white dwarf"); 矮个儿 (ǎi gè r, "a person of short stature"). There are over 38 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 矮 (ǎi)?
Several characters share the pronunciation ǎi: 爱 (to love), 艾 (Chinese mugwort or wormwood), 碍 (to hinder), 哀 ((bound form) sorrow), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 矮 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 矮 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 矮 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.